Frost
by Mayo
Summary: She shivered although she did not feel the cold. What she felt was wet clammy stones, quaking slightly as a great weight scraped over them…


Welcome to the hugely-angsty-Draco/Ginny-fic-temporarily-called-Frost-until-I-come-up-with-something-better…rated PG-13 for now. This is my first Harry Potter fic! Flame if you want, but I will reply in an incredibly witty, sarcastic manner, probably publicly humiliating you. Just review…next chap coming soon.

**__**

"Was there trauma? Or a struggle? Am I missing? Or was the body found?"

--_Am I missing, Dashboard Confessional_

Snow gently frosted the Hogwarts grounds. Ginny Weasely leaned her forehead against the cold window pane, hardly noting the numbness spreading across her already chilled skin. She watched each flake floating down, an image that should have brought happy thoughts of snowmen and hot cocoa and Christmas, instead all she could remember was cold. Her breath hardly fogged the glass, she had little trouble acclimating to the frozen and deserted hall, chilled stones having no effect to further cool her icy feet. _Ginny…_She shivered although she did not feel the cold. What she felt was wet clammy stones, quaking slightly as a great weight scraped over them…she was a Weasely, and had great skill with secrecy and stealth. If her mind had been anywhere else, she would have heard even the lightest scrape or rustle of his otherwise gracefully silent approach and retreated long before he came round the corner and gasped, startling her.

He thanked the fates for the chance that made him prefect. While everyone else was tucked into their comfy beds, he could roam the halls, not having to suffer through insomnia while trapped in the dungeons or skulking in corners. Of course Potty and company resented the power Draco had been given, but he hadn't used it for ill. Not that they'd believe that, but everyone does have to grow up sometime, and he finally had. It had helped to recognize what Lucius really was and what he was trying to make Draco into. A puppet, a petty, sniveling wife-beater. Draco would never be anyone's puppet and he did not hit women. He most certainly was not a _nice _person, his feud with the fab three would always testify to that, but he was at least _civilized_. 

It was not his intention to catch any hapless students roaming the halls, but he turned the corner and she was just _there,_ staring out the window as if it showed her the very gates of hell and she was both terrified and fascinated by the evil there. Draco gasped softly in surprise, enough for Ginny to lift her head from the window and stare at him. He was so startled at the emptiness in those deep brown eyes that he almost gasped again before she recovered and the shutters closed, false emotion masking her.

"What do you want _Malfoy_?"

"To know what you're doing out of bed at this hour. I should take house points for this indiscretion _Weasely_."

She turned back to the window and scoffed, "None of your business."

He could only credit his next words to wanting to see _real_ emotion in those cold, lifeless eyes. "It is my business if you're out siccing basilisks on people again." He regretted it immediately. She whirled on him, livid and breathing hard.

"You _BASTARD!_" He flinched and braced for the hit he knew a girl with six brothers was capable of, but it never came. She turned and fled, red hair streaming behind her, stumbling and sobbing softly in her haste. Draco's pale face grew whiter as his horrible error sank in. His grey eyes were wide and remorseful when he finally gathered enough of his wits to run after her. "_GINNY!_"

She could think of nothing but the anger burning through her frozen chest, the only warmth she'd really felt since the chamber, since the horrible diary had taken hold of her. The fire of her hate of that horrible, cruel, _inhuman_ git scorched her and she fled, frozen feet stumbling, tripping on her thin pajamas. _He's right Ginny, how can any of them trust you now? After you left yourself so open to me…_ She choked on a sob as the voice that haunted her every step, that smooth and highly controlled drawl, every word precisely articulated, cut right through and roused her dark secret fears. _You are open to me, still, after all these years I could step in and take you. You liked it, the power and helplessness of it all, didn't you? You still like it, you long for it again. _She sobbed a quiet "No…", still rushing down stairs and through passageways towards the front doors. It was the only thing she could think to do, get out of the castle into the snow and cool this terrible anger smoldering in her. She would douse herself in the fresh snow till she couldn't feel anymore. She slammed into the door and wrenched it open, not bothering to close it. Ginny ran wildly, around the corner of the castle until her frozen limbs protested and she pitched forward into the snow, laying still and hoping to freeze away all emotions.

Draco soared down the stairs, skipping two or three at a time in his haste. She was too far ahead, she could have gone anywhere. He checked down side halls and in empty classrooms. He'd lost her, dammit! If Ginny hurt herself it was his fault, baiting her like the stuck up bastard that everyone thought he was. He didn't even realize he'd made it to the entry hall until the blast of frozen wind hit him from the still open doors. _Shit, shit, shit!_ Ginny had run out into the snow in her ridiculously thin and worn pajamas. He squeezed between the open doors and scanned the grounds, but the snow was still falling and had filled her tracks. He picked a direction and ploughed through the drifts toward the corner of the castle. When he reached it, he immediately saw the trademark Weasely hair spread out like blood pooling around her pale face. His breath caught in his chest and he ran to her, stumbling and tripping through the deep snow that was close to burying her. Her skin was frozen and blue-tinged, her breathing so shallow he was afraid she was gone. How had she gotten so bad so quickly? She could only have been out of the castle for ten or fifteen minutes. She must have been halfway frozen standing in the hall for who knew how long. Draco ripped off his cloak and wrapped her in it before lifting her and running as fast as he could to the infirmary.


End file.
